Fading Light
by Saxtus Novashine
Summary: Darkness falls in Gotham as two young boys trapped in a collapsed dockyard face the reality of their situation. A short story about the hope inspired by The Dark Knight.


"Hey Brian… I'm cold."

"Me too."

"D'you think they know what happened yet?"

"Who'd come looking for us? Mr. Reilly won't know until tomorrow morning when we don't show up for roll."

David slumped a little lower onto the broken piece of decking, and squinted to try and see his friend across from him. The light was fading quickly, and it was getting harder to see.

"D'you think…"

"What?"

He leaned forward, hauling himself up onto the soaked wood a little so he could whisper his question to Brian.

"D'you think… _he'll_ come?

Brian sighed and shook his head. He was older than David, and knew where his friend's head was going.

"No Davie, he's _not_ coming for us. There's no way anybody would even know we're down here, or that anything's wrong at all here."

"But… it's almost night-time. And he comes out at night! And he flies around the city, checking everything."

Brian rolled his eyes, and stared up at the ceiling; or what was left of it.

They'd been playing in an abandoned boat house. It was near the orphanage, but far enough away that Mr. Reilly wouldn't think to look for them there. David had been wary the first time they'd crawled under the boards, but after some testing, it had seemed like the boat house was solid and stable. There was just one section they didn't go on, because it appeared to be rotting and neither of them wanted to go for a swim. But today, they'd been playing hide and seek and Brian thought he'd outsmart David by hiding in a barrel just inside the section of decking that was rotting. After all, it would be an excellent hiding place, and it would probably be fine, just this once. But the instant he'd set foot on the planking, it had creaked; and almost immediately given way. With it came one of the roof supports. David had looked up from where he was counting and ran across to try and help him out of the water. Then the roof had collapsed, and both of them had ended up floating in the water, surrounded by the collapsed building. Neither of them were very good swimmers, so trying to dive under the wreckage on the side facing the bay was out. And the decking around where the boat was supposed to be had completely collapsed, there was nothing left to climb up onto. They couldn't even see the sky, as a couple of the metal roof sheets and some of the crossbeams had settled just about them.

Now they treaded water, hanging onto a broken section of decking that was still in good condition; and floated well. It wasn't wide enough for either of them to actually sit on, but they both could put their arms on it to hold themselves up. After a couple dunks, they'd figured out that they needed to be on opposite sides to avoid tipping the piece of wood over.

"Brian… my arms are getting tired." David said quietly.

"Here," Brian reached over and grabbed hold of his friend's wrists. "I'll help."

In the darkness, they could barely see each other. Brian could feel David shaking; in fact, it vibrated the piece of wood they were floating on. And after just a few minutes, he could feel his arms growing tired from the added exertion of stretching across the wood.

"Hey Davie, can you hold yourself up now?"

"I… I think so."

Brian let go, pulling his arms back to cross in front of him. It was much easier this way.

"Hey… did you hear that?" David asked after a couple minutes.

"No."

"Huh."

A few more minutes passed. Then; a scraping sound came from above them. Metal grating on wood.

"Wait… what's that?" Brian asked, looking up.

The sounds continued, things moving above them.

"Brian. I… I don't think I can hold on much longer." David said weakly.

"But," Brian said, flashing a glance back down, "but that might be people coming! They'll be here real soon!"

"I…I… I can't hold…" David slipped back a bit, and his mouth went under the waterline.

Brian reached across in a flash to grab his friend's arms, but they slipped right out from underneath his fingers.

"David!"

Above him, a loud screeching sound, and suddenly there was light coming in. Brian looked up and saw the moon; and then in front it, a dark shape with glowing eyes. He screamed, and closed his eyes as the shape leapt down at him.

He heard a splash, and when he opened his eyes, the shape was gone, and the wood he held onto was rocking.

From the water on David's side, a black fist emerged, and with it a gun of some kind. It fired, but it was much quieter than any gun Brian had ever heard. Something shot up toward the roof, the part that was still whole. Then _he_ emerged from the water, and in his other arm, he held David.

"I… I didn't think you were real." Brian blurted out.

The Batman turned towards him, but said nothing as he lifting David partway out of the water, balancing the boy's head on the floating decking. After a few seconds, he slammed a black gloved fist softly onto David's chest, and instantly, the boy started to cough.

Grasping something invisible in the darkness, Batman brought it down to his belt and secured it there. Whatever it was, it seemed to hold him up, as he let go and was still half in, half out of the water. Then he took David's hand with one of his, and reached out the other to Brian.

The boy took it, half afraid, half grateful.

"Hold on." The Batman's voice was not what he'd expected. It wasn't angry or terribly loud. It was strong. And Brian wasn't afraid.


End file.
